Halo Debt Solutions reviews and complaints

BBB has rated "F" on Halo.

http://www.bbb.org/dallas/business-reviews/debt-settlement-companies/halo-debt-solutions-in-allen-tx-90115169

On behalf of Halo Debt Solutions, Inc., we would like to take this opportunity to respond to the above-named individual’s statements.

It is disappointing to ever lose any employee of a company, whether they have been there for years or a few days, especially on adverse terms. It is no exception with this individual. We regret that she separated from Halo with such a negative disposition in regards to Halo's process, people, and purpose. It is unfortunate that we were unable to discuss this disconnect and work through any underlying concerns that she may have had before resulting to this type of forum. We obviously do not agree with her assertions and claims, and hope for the opportunity to discuss any issues that she might have with Halo. Regardless of her ill will, we sincerely wish her the very best in all of her future endeavors.

Halo currently maintains a staff of 86 employees who passionately service thousands of satisfied clients nationwide. In addition to providing practical financial solutions for Americans who are deeply in debt, Halo is also providing employment for 86 families and making a positive economic impact in the North Texas area. Halo is committed to providing all of its services with integrity, honor, and excellence.

If you have questions about Halo Debt Solutions, Inc. or would like to learn more about the debt settlement process, please visit us on the web at www.halodebt.com or call 866.448.0174.

Cade Thompson
Chief Executive Officer
Halo Group, Inc.

I have just found out how bad Halo Debt is. Fortunately, they did secure agreements with 3 of my cards and I was able to pay those cards off. The bigger ones...I was served papers and then comunication started to get iffy with Halo. I was told by Shelly Jones to respond the papers with some other responses she said people had used...3 days before the repsonse was due after having the copy of the papers for 2 1/2 weeks. I emailed her that certain things were incorrect and that one account was not listed as paid off . She asked me to email her the info so she could research it. Bimbo. Fortunately, I had a friend who was a lawyer and when I asked him how I should respond he said I needed to file bankruptcy. I told David Shelley, when I first started, how I got into debt...which was mainly for cancer and a year of six operations...yes healthcare in this country sucks. Needless to say we have a group of predatory people here. I am filing bankrupcy, am getting $5000.00 back on my "fee" to Halo...which is less than the 15% they say is their fee. Halo is in Texas...they did not abide by Washington law for this service...which is where I live...if this happens to you get a good lawyer, put Halo to the wall as far as the laws in your state say this service should be handled. Halo also tried to get my lawyer to have me sign an aggreement that I would say nothing bad about them. He told them that was ridiculous and it wouldn't happen. Yes, spread the word about the A-Holes...

I was lucky to have come to the conclusion that HALO was a scam. I was only a client for 4 months and that was to long. I had just received a summons from one of the creditors, called HALO and the said here is what
YOU can do. What was I paying them for. The company stated that they
would be able to settle all my debits for half of what I owed, all i had to do was put $667.00 in my account monthly HALO took 80% as payment and
the balance stayed in my account. When the I called HALO, HALO stated
that I could settle with the creditor for $15, 000.00 and make payments. As
you can see the rest of my creditors were only get $10, 000.00 plus dollars
LOL yea like the creditors would go for that. By the time I paid HALO I would have spent $6400.00. I should have hired a Lawyer.

Absolutely true! When I first signed on they withheld vital information from me. I was under the impression they were actively working on my behalf. They were not. Excuse number 1 from them was they couldn't negotiate for me until the debts went to collections so they knew who to negotiate with. One creditor sued me and even up to the court date had never been contacted by HALO. Another had their own internal collection department and despite giving HALO the names and numbers of the people they needed to talk to and assurances from HALO that they would contact them, no contact was ever made. I also found out that I would be served a summons and have to go to court for each creditor when I was made to believe being enrolled in their program would prevent all that. Excuse number 2 on why they didn't ask for a settlement, I found out that the savings program means nothing to creditors and that when settlement offers are made that they are only good for a few days to a month. If you don't have the funds available to immediately pay, it's useless. HALO returned fewer than 25% of my calls, answered less than 50% of my emails, made NONE of the check in calls to me that were supposed to be made monthly. The kicker was an email before my court date that if I could get a settlement on my own I could afford, to take it. Remind me again of what they were hired to do? By the time the court date arrived one creditor had added over $5000 in interest and penalties to the debt. Two weeks after I fired HALO they sent me a settlement offer that was 225% of the original debt. Even in looking over the package they sent me, the settlement amounts are specified in exact dollars and cents. In reality, they were just numbers that they snatched from the air. The whole thing is smoke and mirrors, a deception, a lie. I am reporting them to the State AG office on November 1 to try to get my money back because they did NOTHING they promised they were going to do. I hope I am successful.

I signed up through Linda Berry. They never ever contracted no body. I got court papers and they said that it was to scare me. Right on. The next couple of months my checks get garnished. Don't loose your money. Do it yourself.

I really don't have to cite what happened to my husband and I when we signed up with Halo Debt Solutions to work in our interest with our creditors to settle our credit card debts. It has all been said by the other people complaining about their treatment by Halo. When I began to get letters from Atty's. about not taking care of our payments to these creditors, I became so upset, I called all of them to find out what Halo had done to try to get a settlement agreement for me. I already had a strong feeling nothing was being done. I also had been informed not to talk to our creditors. Anyway, $5, 000.00 dollars and many tears later, I found that our credit card companys were not even aware that we were supposedly working through a debt solution company. Result, we have three liens against our property and three debt collection agencys we are working with to pay these debts off ourselves. Halo stated no refund of monies paid to them by us.

I have a copy of everything I have received from Halo and everything that was sent to them by us. One day I will get to take some kind of action, I am sure. This can't possibly be legal. I just feel so foolish along with desperate.

Oh yeah, and the banks that are not so bad? Really?... First of all they want you to be in debt and pay as much interest as possible. Why? because that is how they make money from you. Sure they will work out a lower interest rate with you. That is called a credit management program or debt management program. These programs will typically take 5-6 years to complete. The lower interest rate is usually temoporary then it goes right back up. The accounts enrolled will be closed. It is unlikely that you will be able to get new credit during the 5-6 yr period of time. It also will most likely be reported to the credit reporting agencies, sometimes as a TPI (Third Party Intervention), and that looks real bad -almost as bad as a bankruptcy. Yeah, the idea is to keep you in that long term credit program as long as possible. Banks get all of thier money back regardless of your choices. They are largely responsible for the state of the economy. Americans are enticed into acquiring more debt through advertising and consumer spending pressure. People have been duped into believing that your credit score is the most important factor when actually it is the amount of debt that you have that has a greater impact on your lifestyle. Banks are syphoning billions of dollars from struggling Americans who are trying to keep up with thier minimum payments and suffocating under large debt loads. They are syphoning most of this money in the form of INTEREST. People, do your research first, then comment or complain based on the facts. If the fact is that you discontinued a program because you panicked and did not see the program through to its full completion, then you are the one to blame, not the program.

First of all, most of the complaints against legitimate debt settlement companies are based on lack of information and a misunderstanding about how a debt settlement program works. Here are important points to remember. Typically, if a legitimate settlement company accepts your debt into thier program it means that you have qualified for a HARDSHIP program. That means that YOU have created enough personal unsecured debt that you really arent able to keep up with the payments. It is a program designed to provide you with some relief, and get you out of the debt. In other words, a settlement company is going to negotiate with your creditors to get them to agree to only accept about half of what YOU owe them and close the accounts. Yes, settlement companies will charge a fee for doing this. Of course this will effect your credit. Virtually anything you do to get out of paying off your debt in the, long term, high interest, program you are in will effect your credit. Even if you are making your payments on time, you are going to pay a lot more in the long run when paying back your debt. With your high debt load, your credit score is pretty much useless. Debt settlement programs cannot wave a magic wand and make your debt disappear. It takes time to reach the best settlment possible. It also takes time for YOU to have the funds available. During this period it makes the most sense to collect the fees. That is why the number one complaint is from people who terminate the program early. Of course they are not going to see settled accounts. You have to give the program some time. These programs work. Doubt that? Well I work for a company that has settled well over 100 million in debt, with 35, 000 satisfied clients. It is frustrating when people dont take the time to fully understand a program or how a company works before they complain about it.

I am also a victim of Halo Debt Solution (HDS). My sales person was Mike Maguire and customer service rep was Deenie Daley. Davo suggest that stefenys compliant is bogus. I'll like to add my own testimony that my compliant is 100% legitimate and true and anyone can take that to the bank.

I started with Halo Debt Solution (HDS) back in July 2008. The sales person Mike Maguire told me that Halo Debt negotiates millions of dollars of debt with Citibank and they have strong negotiating power that regular folks like me do not have with these banks. He told me that HD typically settle for 40-60% with Citibank and I can be debt free in 36 months.

I asked him what happened if Citibank sued me and he assured me that the probability of that happening is extremely low and even in a lawsuit, HDS can still negotiate with the lawyers and they can still settle for 40 - 60% because the lawyers do not want to engage in a lengthy and costly judgment and may not even get to collect any money. So I thought this is the holy grill to my debt problems and gladly signed up with them.

Fast forward 8 months later and I have already paid $5000 to HDS, Citibank threw out 2 law suits against me. During the entire 8 months, HDS did nothing for me except calling and emailing me once a month to see how I am doing. They did sent a letter to Citibank to stop calling me and to contact them directly regarding my debts. Of course, Citibank doesn't want to deal with HDS and I am still hounded by daily calls morning till evening from Citibank. HDS suggest I do not answer or speak to anyone representing Citibank, and I gladly obliged, believing that HDS will continue to represent me and work out a solutions with Citi. When I was presented with the summons, HDS told me that the best they can do is 80% of my total debt when it ends up in a lawsuit, and this is not 80% off my original debt amount, this is the total debt including all interest compounded, late fees, finance charges, and all the works that these banks can top up to your original debt amount over the entire time you are trying to save up to pay off your debt. So what happened to the 40-60% of my original loan amount? What happened to No Interest accrued due to HDS debt settlement program?

Taking into account the amount of money I have paid to HDS, the negotiated settlement amount, and court fees I have to pay, I ended up paying more in total amount than I originally owe. When I asked for a refund, guess what, I was told there is no grounds for my request for a refund. In fact, if I do not continue with my monthly payment to HDS, they will cease providing anymore service to me! So everything that I have paid in the past to HDS doesn't count towards future services. In retrospect, if I have taken the initiatives to speak to Citibank and explain my current financial difficulties and work with them on an agreeable solution, I would have avoided all the finance charges and the ugly lawsuits, and I would have save $5000 that I paid to this ### HDS company.

My advice to all who read this, and I hope you do: DON"T WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY WITH HALO DEBT SOLUTIONS. THEY ARE A GREEDY AND SCRUPULOUS COMPANY THAT PREYS ON UNINFORMED FOLKS LIKE US. THEY PRETTY MUCH DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU, EVEN THOUGH THEY PRETEND TO WHEN YOU ARE PAYING YOUR MONTHLY FEES, AND THEY KICKED YOU AWAY WHEN YOU FINALLY REALIZE THAT THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING FOR YOU THAT YOU CANNOT DO YOURSELVES.

The banks are not as bad as these debt settlement companies make them out to be. They are willing to work out a viable solution through low monthly plan and stop accruing late fees, interest, and finance charges. I can't say that is the case with all banks, but I was able to work out a solution with Chase and Bank of America. I wished I would have done the same 8 months ago with Citibank. It could have been worse if I also included my Chase and BoA debt to my Citibank debt and I would have paid much more out of pocket to HDS and end up with 4 - 5 lawsuits from all 3 banks instead of just 2 from Citibank.

HDS is a scam that pretends to be a legal company. Stay as far away as you can.

I think this complaint is bogus. I personally signed my parents up with Halo and in 3 months they have already settled one of their accounts at 39% of what they owe. I think these complaints are from people that never used the service...perhaps the competition.
Halo also gave my parents a written 100% money back guarantee and they also pay for my parents to go through credit repair once they complete the program.
It's sad that a company that is truly trying to help in this current economic crisis is getting such negative responses just because the industry isn't regulated.

Beware of Halo Debt Solutions!

I am also an "EX" client of Halo Debt Solutions. I also fully believe that this company is a scam. My debts, $30, 000 were estimated to be settled in 3 years. However, after 1 year of faithful payments not a single debt of mine was ever settled, negotiated, or even addressed by Halo. Many false promises were made to me during my enrollment. I was lead to believe that this would be a simple process. Quickly I realized that the creditors do not stop calling, do not stop pursuing, and do not care of your enrollment in Halo's program. Kemarie McMinn was my "Specialist" and Deenie Daley was my "Service Rep".

So my outcome of this experience is, all of my accountS enrolled in the program were referred to attorneys. An Arbitration Claim was failed against me which could have resulted in wage garnishments. I have decided to file bankruptcy instead and when I informed Halo that I wished to cancel the program they informed me that I would not be refunded a penny! After I have paid them over $3000 and they accomplished absolutely nothing for me in return! Their contract states that the "enrollment fee" is nonrefundable but it does NOT clarify that every penny you ever pay them is theirs to keep. I have involved my bank and they are investigating fraud and I may have to take them to court to resolve the rest of the money they are keeping. What kind of company refuses to refund money that was paid to perform a service that was never performed?

On a side note, Halo and Mr. McGuire will site laws regarding debt collection practice etc (ex. wage garnishments and house leins) that pertain specifically to their state of Texas. However, they accept clients across the country (I live in California) and we are all bound by different laws.

Point in short... DO NOT TRUST HALO DEBT SOLUTIONS!

Who was your sales person? Mike Maguire?

Who was the person who signed you up? Mike Maguire?

When searching a debt relief company to work with always look at their fee structure. If they charge anything up-front or charge monthly dues, it's better to stay away. Settlement companies should only charge a fee once a settlement has been finalized between the company and the clients creditor. They should also charge minimal fees based on what they save their clients. www.personalcreditsolution.com operates with this fair fee structure and offer a full satisfaction guarantee to each of their clients. Remember, there are honest settlement companies out there...you just have to do your homework and see what you're really paying for their service.

Hmmmmm, I am reading all of these comments and feel that there is both truth and nontruth to most of them. I am a client of HDS and the bottom line is they are doing everything they said they would do for me. I enrolled 30K worth of debt and so far all but 3 accounts are settled in less than 2 years. We have been called to court 3 times and they really did nothing to help with court. When you go back and really read the "contract" they never say they can represent you in court they say that they will assist you - which is basically just giving you general advice and sending you some links for summons answers that you can find through any google search. We got totally different advice for the different summons...as in they gave us more helpful information the second time than they did the first. Stupid.

I think what happens is that when you are in the situation where you are looking for a company such as halo you believe and interpret things the way you want to believe them and they know that and they promote themselves accordingly. You cannot be emotional when making a decision like this. They do not lie to you in the initial agreement on paper. The calls do eventually stop - it may take up to a month for it to happen but they stop. I get the feeling that this firm does so much in volume that you pretty much become a number, if you don't stay on them you can get sort of swept under the rug. The reps are trained very well to give a feeling of serenity and trust and who knows if there is any sincerity in there at all; my guess is it varies from person to person. I think I have dealt with nine different reps so far and that can be very frustrating.

On the other hand, they have settled several accounts for us at less than 40%. We have paid them a lot of money to basically do what you can do yourself if you understand the process at all which most people don't and the information seems to be a big secret that you can only find by either going through the painful process and learning as you go or buying books from some goofy author that has found a way to capitalize on the same sad fate so many others are experiencing.

My assessment is if you don't a very high debt, like say it is around $15, 000, and you don't have the stomach to handle all of the calls and hounding until you can save enough money to negotiate, then dealing with them isn't so bad. They are friendly and humor you nicely through the process. You are definitely throwing away money in fees to them that you could put toward your debt and the bottom line is most of these companies would settle with you anyway after you become severely delinquent. If you have considerably high debt and all you can do is pay toward the plan halo lays out for you, halo probably isn't going to be able to do anything for you and in most cases your debt will go to court which is not pleasant. Bankruptcy probably isn't a bad option.

Hope this helps someone. In my opinion the real problem lies in Washington because this should not be such a game. The whole system is designed to see you fail and all the players ultimately work off of each other to their own gain. The consumer has very little opportunity to educated himself while on the other hand you are up against banks, lawyers, and debt "professionals" such as halo. It's sickening.

When I signed up I was told that arrangements had been made with each card company. I found out that no such arrangement existed. When I told them I wanted out, the agent continued to charge my account. I contacted the local Chamber of Commerce and finally got a phone call saying the charge would be reversed. I also found that when I went back to paying the card companies, Discover jumped my monthly finance charge to 28% per month. When I did a housing refinance I was able to get enough out to pay off all the cards. Then Discover sent me a bill for the interest from their statement date to the payment date. Only it was calculated using the 28% and some phoney purchases total.

FBI, Secretary of State, BBB, Attorney General...All those may help

I've got $24, 000 in card debts when I signed up with Halo. They took $336 out of my bank acccount each month as part of the program. Recently an escrow payout came through large enough to payoff all the cards. I wrote to them on May 1st telling them to terminate the agrement. Their agent proceeded to argue that I was better off paying them for three years instead of paying the card companies immediately. Shortly after, I find another payment taken from my bank account. When I objected, the agent said they were not going to refund the payment because she said I needed their service. I immediately had to change my bank account to prevent further charges. I'll file a complaint as soon as I find the right agency

rip off rip off I had Mike Maquire cell phone number I called last night. The message on the phone is Mike Miquie I no longer work for Halo Debt Solution if you are a personal friend you can call my wife phone. Deenie Daley is my rep boyy is she a joke! and so is the company some one should report them to the better bissness bureua in Texas. I will make sure if I can that they are shut down

totally a rip off I need to know what to do? Should I fill bankrupsty? can't be any worst than Halo Debt Solutions

I started with Halo Debt Solution (HDS) back in July 2008. The sales person Mike Maguire told me that Halo Debt negotiates millions of dollars of debt with Citibank and they have strong negotiating power that regular folks like me do not have with these banks. He told me that HD typically settle for 40-60% with Citibank and I can be debt free in 36 months.

I asked him what happened if Citibank sued me and he assured me that the probability of that happening is extremely low and even in a lawsuit, HDS can still negotiate with the lawyers and they can still settle for 40 - 60% because the lawyers do not want to engage in a lengthy and costly judgment and may not even get to collect any money. So I thought this is the holy grill to my debt problems and gladly signed up with them.

Fast forward 8 months later and I have already paid $5000 to HDS, Citibank threw out 2 law suits against me. During the entire 8 months, HDS did nothing for me except calling and emailing me once a month to see how I am doing. They did sent a letter to Citibank to stop calling me and to contact them directly regarding my debts. Of course, Citibank doesn't want to deal with HDS and I am still hounded by daily calls morning till evening from Citibank. HDS suggest I do not answer or speak to anyone representing Citibank, and I gladly obliged, believing that HDS will continue to represent me and work out a solutions with Citi. When I was presented with the summons, HDS told me that the best they can do is 80% of my total debt when it ends up in a lawsuit, and this is not 80% off my original debt amount, this is the total debt including all interest compounded, late fees, finance charges, and all the works that these banks can top up to your original debt amount over the entire time you are trying to save up to pay off your debt. So what happened to the 40-60% of my original loan amount? What happened to No Interest accrued due to HDS debt settlement program?

Taking into account the amount of money I have paid to HDS, the negotiated settlement amount, and court fees I have to pay, I ended up paying more in total amount than I originally owe. When I asked for a refund, guess what, I was told there is no grounds for my request for a refund. In fact, if I do not continue with my monthly payment to HDS, they will cease providing anymore service to me! So everything that I have paid in the past to HDS doesn't count towards future services. In retrospect, if I have taken the initiatives to speak to Citibank and explain my current financial difficulties and work with them on an agreeable solution, I would have avoided all the finance charges and the ugly lawsuits, and I would have save $5000 that I paid to this ### HDS company.

My advice to all who read this, and I hope you do: DON"T WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY WITH HALO DEBT SOLUTIONS. THEY ARE A GREEDY AND SCRUPULOUS COMPANY THAT PREYS ON UNINFORMED FOLKS LIKE US. THEY PRETTY MUCH DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU, EVEN THOUGH THEY PRETEND TO WHEN YOU ARE PAYING YOUR MONTHLY FEES, AND THEY KICKED YOU AWAY WHEN YOU FINALLY REALIZE THAT THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING FOR YOU THAT YOU CANNOT DO YOURSELVES.

The banks are not as bad as these debt settlement companies make them out to be. They are willing to work out a viable solution through low monthly plan and stop accruing late fees, interest, and finance charges. I can't say that is the case with all banks, but I was able to work out a solution with Chase and Bank of America. I wished I would have done the same 8 months ago with Citibank. It could have been worse if I also included my Chase and BoA debt to my Citibank debt and I would have paid much more out of pocket to HDS and end up with 4 - 5 lawsuits from all 3 banks instead of just 2 from Citibank.

HDS is a scam that pretends to be a legal company. Stay as far away as you can.

Not sure I have be in touch with someone from halo debt And thought I would try them but now after I have read the comments Im not sure .If some-one out there can till me something good at all about this place I have printed some of them.?s

I am also an "EX" client of Halo Debt Solutions. I also fully believe that this company is a scam. My debts, $30, 000 were estimated to be settled in 3 years. However, after 1 year of faithful payments not a single debt of mine was ever settled, negotiated, or even addressed by Halo. Many false promises were made to me during my enrollment. I was lead to believe that this would be a simple process. Quickly I realized that the creditors do not stop calling, do not stop pursuing, and do not care of your enrollment in Halo's program. Kemarie McMinn was my "Specialist" and Deenie Daley was my "Service Rep".

So my outcome of this experience is, all of my accountS enrolled in the program were referred to attorneys. An Arbitration Claim was failed against me which could have resulted in wage garnishments. I have decided to file bankruptcy instead and when I informed Halo that I wished to cancel the program they informed me that I would not be refunded a penny! After I have paid them over $3000 and they accomplished absolutely nothing for me in return! Their contract states that the "enrollment fee" is nonrefundable but it does NOT clarify that every penny you ever pay them is theirs to keep. I have involved my bank and they are investigating fraud and I may have to take them to court to resolve the rest of the money they are keeping. What kind of company refuses to refund money that was paid to perform a service that was never performed?

On a side note, Halo and Mr. McGuire will site laws regarding debt collection practice etc (ex. wage garnishments and house leins) that pertain specifically to their state of Texas. However, they accept clients across the country (I live in California) and we are all bound by different laws.

Point in short... DO NOT TRUST HALO DEBT SOLUTIONS!